Food rotation. Yeah, we know, it’s boring.
We also know that it’s a critically important part of your prepping, and that failure to keep food rotation current can leave you in the hurt locker if the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF)
Food rotation
Imaging you are in a SHTF situation. You are thinking “well, as bad as things are, we will get by because we have our pantry stacked deep…”
You pick up a can to open to make a meal, and notice rust on it. “Well,” you think, “It’s probably OK, I’ll open it and see…” When you make your first turn of the can opener’s handle, an horrible smell emerges… this is the exact WRONG time to realize you should have been more diligent about rotating your stores.
Buying preps isn’t enough, you have to maintain & rotate them to keep them fresh enough to use… even “durable” items need to be inspected and sometimes maintained.
We did a short (14 minute) podcast on this subject a couple of years ago, and you can listen to it by clicking the following link:
We need good storage systems for all our preps, so we can find and use them as easily as, well…a can of corn.
Not a thrill?
As Spice says “I know it’s not an exciting topic,” but “It’s absolutely essential if you want things to actually be ready when you need them.”
A lot of preps don’t need much in the way of active maintenance. When you buy those big buckets of food that are designed to be good for 30 years, you really don’t need to do much but store them in a cool, dry place with constant temperatures (like a dry basement) and you are good to go.
However, many items DO need to be rotated and inspected.
Can foods need to be rotated to keep them “fresh”. I wrote a post about this which you can read by clicking this link.
As we talk about in the podcast, there are several specific types of foods that need to be checked and rotated on a quicker baisis
Foods and other items with high oil content don’t have nearly the shelf life as things with little oil/fat. In fact, cooking oil has a relatively short shelf life before it turns rancid.
I tell the story about the milsurp peanut butter I bought many years ago. It was a large can, and it got pushed back to the back of a little-disturbed long-term prep shelf we have. Over the years, it deteriorated and literally exploded inside of it’s box. We only noticed it when we walked into the kitchen and were hit by a horrible odor. Let me tell you from personal experience, cleaning up rancid peanut butter is not a “fun way to spend a morning”.
Things that are acidic, like pineapples and peaches, for example, are very hard on their cans and tend to rust them. Expect shorter shelf lives from them, and get them eaten quicker.
We always think about food when it comes to shelf life, but
Food’s not the hard part, drugs are.
First, let’s look at drug shelf life. Prescription and over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, minerals and supplements all age differently, for the most part most just loose potency over time but some drugs (especially some diploids) become dangerous to take as they age and break down. The old adage “if in doubt, throw it out” comes into play with drugs.
Things that really, REALLY kills drugs and supplements quickly is include high temperature, as well as exposure to light and also extreme temperature variations. Most drugs are designed to be stored at room temperature, while some are better refrigerated. See the labels for details.
One problem Spice and I have is when it comes to our bags… our get home bags, our 72-hour bags and bugout bags all have a variety of everyday and emergency medications/first aid drugs and bandages in them.
These bags are subject to sitting in cars in high heat/freezing temps. Interior of cars change temps dramatically even during very cold days if the sun is shining, and one of the biggest deteriorating effects is caused by constant temperature changes.
This leads us to rotating them often.
Can rotation racks are an awesome way of making food rotation easier. I have a freestanding rack, but have seen the shelf rotation systems like the one you have pictured in the article – both are quite useful. One suggestion though is to label the slots as to which are the newest to oldest. I have eight slots of tuna in my rotation rack that are scattered amongst the rows to maximize the use of space in the rack, so it was critical to me to know which one to use first, second, etc. So I bought a roll of 1/2″ magnetic tape and use a P-Touch labeler to create movable labels (the rack is of a magnetic material, probably steel) and I have Tuna 1, Tuna 2, Tuna 3, etc. Family knows to take from oldest/lowest number first in case I’m not there to grab things in proper order. With movable labels when I finish one slot I can renumber the rest easy as pie.
And listening to your podcast about pool shock, I stock it both for water sanitization and as a medical prep for sanitizing spray for pandemics (Ebola, Bird flu, etc.) I don’t use bleach in washing clothes. My plan once I get with 2 years of expiration is to buy more and bring the expired bags to the hazardous waste disposal day (once a year around here.) Anyone thinking about using pool shock not only needs to know the right one to get, but also have proper protective equipment and safe storage containers and space. Pool shock will eat metal and woe be unto anyone who lets it get too hot and start decomposing! I use nested plastic containers just to be safe, and I keep the protective equipment (gloves, goggles, and apron all in chemical resistant varieties) and directions on top of the container. Oh, and I have plastic measuring spoons that are stored in the outer plastic container since I don’t want to cross-contaminate and I really don’t want expensive metal measuring spoons dissolving from the chemicals! Do a LOT of research before going down this road. Used safely it’s a great prep, but stored poorly or used improperly it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Thanks for the articles!
Good stuff! I hate throwing things out because of spoilage!